Tag: islam

Allah swt promises us this perfect world and tells us about “….a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous” (Surah Ale Imran 3:133)

The magnificent creation made for us by Our Lord.

Our merciful Lord tells us the characteristics we need to reach this splendid place,in the next verse

“Who spend [in the cause of Allah ] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people – and Allah loves the doers of good,” (Surah Ale Imran 3 :134)

But we need to beware of Shaitan and his tricks which are aimed at us falling short of being the people of Paradise.

Let’s see what they are and what tricks shaitan can play on us :

1. “spend [in the cause of Allah ] during ease and hardship” 3:134

The primary context that comes to our mind when we read this verse is our wealth.

But, Allah swt wants us to think more deeply as He uses the word “anfaq (spend)” in this verse and not “amwaal (wealth)” here.

Our time,resources, intelligence,beneficial knowledge, good manners are all part of our provision from Allah swt.

When we have the time, we visit the sick,are cordial to people, share the news of deals in the market, but when we are pressed for time,or going through a tough period in our lives, what do we do? We stop calling people, get irritable. when we feel that the sales are few, we don’t share the news with others, lest we lose out on the good stuff.

How much time,money,resources would we lose in making a quick call, or dropping a message or smiling even while rushing?A warm quick hug , donuts for the kids, sharing just one useful information on Facebook , putting one dollar instead of 5 in the donation box.

We must constantly strive to ‘spend” of our provisions as ” the most beloved of deeds to him was a righteous deed which a person persists in doing, even if it is something small.”(Ibn Majah : Vol. 1, Book 37, Hadith 4237)

But shaitan tries to trick us by trying his best to delude us painting the false picture of poverty(Surah Baqarah 2:268), or by trying to worry us about losing precious time.

Allah swt calls spending in His way a “loan to Him”, and He says , ” Who is it that would loan Allah swt a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allah swt who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned.” (Surah Baqarah 2:245)

2.“restrain anger ” 3:134

To understand the depth of this characteristic, let’s see what these words in arabic mean.

“Kazim” literally means to suppress some thing, to close the mouth of a water container and “Ghaiz” means to express an anger in which the blood pressure shoots up. How we felt that surge of heat when some one made a belittling remark at us? or when some one quickly parked in our spot for which we had been patiently waiting? Or when our children just don’t seem clean up or our spouse seems inconsiderate?

There are three levels of “anger” with the lowest ranging from, just giving a “look”, to the moderate one being not smiling,and snapping back in retaliation , banging doors, yelling , stamping feet being the highest level.

Bitter words escape our mouth, wrongful actions are done by our limbs. And in the end, all that is left to gain is deep regret.

Shaitan does not want us to control our anger. He strokes our ego and fuels our emotions , so that we ,instead of letting go of that remark , we snap back in anger. Instead of moving on in that hurtful situation, we stay and fume, some times planning our revenge in anger, wasting both our time and energy.

But what does Allah swt want us to do at this time?

Allah swt wants us hold it, as His messenger (ﷺ) said, “The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger.” (Sahih al-Bukhari :Book 78, Hadith 141)

There is no sip greater in reward near Allah than the sip of anger; the servant suppresses it seeking the pleasure of Allah.” (Ibn Majah).

3.”who pardon the people” – 3:134

“Afeen” in the arabic language is made up of the huroof, win , fa , wow.

These words mean, to to obliterate without any traces, forgo,forgive.

We see a beautiful selection of words by Allah swt here again. Instead of using the word “ghafireen” which means to “ protect, cover over, hide, forgive.

And forgiveness in the english language means “ the act of escaping a mistake or offense”.

The difference between the two arabic words powerfully impacts the act of the forgiveness.

Allah swt wants us not to just forgive, but to forgive in a manner, that obliterates all traces of the incident in our minds. So that we don’t hold any ill feelings in our hearts for the people who have been unjust to us.